Mutation appears to double lifespan of flies. A team at the University of Connecticut Health Center has found that fruitflies with a mutation in one copy of the Indy gene live an average of 70 days versus the usual 37. "The mutant fruit flies have trouble using or absorbing nutrients." Reduced intake of calories has already been linked to longer lifespan in other species such as rats.

A casual reader might think this research reinforces the Darwinian case that mutation and natural selection can lead to evolutionary progress. Of course, everyone agrees that longer life is better. But the benefit from this mutation comes from the partial disabling of an established genetic function. (A similar disabling produces enhanced resistance to malaria in humans.) Such disabling mutations have not been shown to compose the new genetic programs needed for evolutionary progress.

December 13:Evidence for magnetotactic bacteria on Mars. A team of astrobiologists working under a NASA grant concludes that some of the magnetite found in a Mars meteorite can only be produced by bacteria. Earlier analyses had found that the magnetite is from Mars, so it appears to have been produced there by magnetotactic bacteria. The meteorite, known as ALH84001, became famous after 7 August 1996, when evidence in it of fossilized microscopic life was first announced by some of the same astrobiologists who made the new analysis. That original evidence has been challenged, especially after studies released in March found that earthly contamination of meteorites is common. The new analysis meticulously reinforces the 1996 case for ancient life on Mars.

Another Indian balloon will sample the high atmosphere. It will be launched at midnight tonight from the national balloon facility in Hyderabad. The experiment will collect air samples from heights of 10 to 35 km and bring them back eight hours later in sixteen super-cooled sterilised containers. A similar balloon launched in April found unfamiliar bacteria at 16 kilometers; this mission may help determine whether such bacteria are extra-terrestrial. We wonder if, in addition to gene sequencing, the bacteria could be checked for unearthly isotope ratios. [Thanks, CC-Net.] 'Life-from-space' balloon ready for launch, The Times of India, 11 December 2000. An Atmospheric Test of Cometary Panspermia is the related CA webpage.

Lunar meteorites confirm intense bombardment 3.9 billion years ago. The first evidence for this "cataclysm" was based on the analysis of moon rocks returned by missions of the Apollo program. The new study, using four meteorites that fell to Earth from the moon's back side, was made by cosmochemists from the University of Arizona, Tucson. They write, "The lack of impact melt older than 3.92 Ga supports the concept of a short, intense period of bombardment in the Earth-moon system at ~3.9 Ga. This was an anomalous spike of impact activity on the otherwise declining impact-frequency curve." The cause of this "late heavy bombardment" is still unknown. In commentary Richard Kerr notes, "On Earth, the same bombardment would have intervened in the evolution of life, perhaps forcing it to start all over again."

Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology. In mainstream evolutionary science today, progress is considered a naive, mistaken notion. To us, progress in the many steps from prokaryotes to primates is entirely obvious; the mainstream position baffles us. That's why we wanted to read this scholarly 1996 book by a well-credentialed opponent of progress, Michael Ruse.

With thorough research Ruse sets out to demonstrate that evolutionary progress is illusory and that those who believe in it do so for cultural reasons. For example, he cites the views of Ernst Mayr, who had written in 1982, "On almost any measure one can think of a squid, a social bee, or a primate is more progressive than a prokaryote." Ruse counters that progress can indeed be doubted, because complex forms often become extinct, and because "ancient forms (like trilobites) were more complex even possibly than humans" (p 416). He thinks Mayr's main problem is cultural: "In short, everything points to the conclusion that Mayr's thoughts on progress are a function of the biological milieu in which he grew up..." (p 419). Ruse reaches a similar conclusion about all other "progressionists." For example —

"[Sewall] Wright's fuzzy attitude to the nature and aim of progress... [is] a reflection of Bergsonian thinking" (p 378).

"[Theodosius] Dobzhansky was a biological progressionist because this position harmonized with and led into his religious or spiritual Progressionism" (p 400).

"There is nothing in the basic theory of natural selection that would suggest the idea of any kind of cumulative progress," George Williams wrote in 1966 (p 475). We agree and think the theory needs amending to accommodate the fact that progress has occurred. Ruse, however, cannot consider that possibility, saying, "It is important to stress that, however defined, advance comes about through the process of normal selection" (p 416). With nothing more, one must suppose that mere selection can produce cumulative progress, as Charles Darwin himself had somewhat reluctantly done. But Ruse says that here even Darwin was wrong (p 165).

The correct course for evolutionary biology, Ruse says, is to do away with the concept of progress entirely. He appovingly paraphrases Williams, "Progress of an ongoing kind is simply impossible" (p 475). Although ambivalent about Stephen Jay Gould, Ruse likes Gould's 1988 opinion of progress as a "noxious, culturally embedded, untestable, nonoperational, intractable idea that must be replaced if we wish to understand the patterns of history" (p 500). Finally, Ruse wonders, "Are we now witnessing the death throes of progressionism in professional evolutionary biology...?"

Michael Ruse

We feel that progress in biological evolution is analogous to that in computers — later models come along that have new, or expanded, more powerful programs that give them features and capabilities that earlier models lack. We think the similar progress in the history of life on Earth is undeniable. Of course, a more precise definition of evolutionary progress would clearly be helpful now. (But a naive use of "complexity" seems adequate for Ruse when it serves his purpose — trilobites more complex than humans?)

We endorse the question that vexed Darwin and many others — how is evolutionary progress possible? In this book Michael Ruse laboriously contrives to dismiss this question as meaningless. Mainstream evolutionary science seems to go along with Ruse. What happened to common sense? We are as baffled as ever.

The TNA World, a new precursor to the RNA World, is proposed. An international team of biochemists have produced new nucleotides that can be joined to form a double helix and can be cross-paired with RNA or DNA strands. The new units, alpha-threofuranosyl nucleotides, are simpler than RNA or DNA ones, and so, in theory, they would be more easily produced in a prebiotic soup. The scientists report that TNA "warrants close scrutiny... in the context of the problem of RNA's origin."

In commentary, eminent origin-of-life researcher Leslie Orgel writes "It is hard to understand how... the monomeric components of RNA, could have formed de novo under the prebiotic conditions on the primitive Earth. Consequently, many recent discussions of chemical evolution... have emphasized the potential importance of informational polymers that are simpler than RNA.... These new results invite attempts to identify even simpler RNA analogs."

No evidence found in nature supports the existence of a TNA- or an RNA World, or any precellular life at all. Unsolved chemical ("hardware") problems for the RNA World and its variants have only become more numerous. Meanwhile, how strands of nucleotides might acquire encoded instructional meaning (the "software" problem) remains unanswered and almost forgotten among Darwinists.

Of course we endorse basic biochemical research. But why are such tentative results deemed so noteworthy? [Thanks, Stan Franklin.]

ESA reports on Mars. The European Space Agency has a new Internet resource of twelve illustrated pages on aspects of Mars such as age, orbit, surface, and interior. [Thanks, Larry Klaes.] Mars science, European Space Agency. Life on Mars! is the related CA webpage.

November 14:

Organics in Leonid Meteors — NASA scientists took samples from the atmosphere after the Leonid meteor storm in November 1999. They now report that organic compounds are abundant in the meteors and they are not destroyed by the heat of atmospheric entry. The scientists conclude that precursor materials for life could have been delivered to Earth by meteors. We notice that the findings would also support another conclusion — that evidence of cellular life is abundant in space.The annual Leonid shower will be visible in the night sky especially in New Emgland, 17-18 November. And NASA will again be monitoring it. Leonid Meteors Yield Rich Astrobiology Research Results, NASA Release 00-77AR, 13 November 2000. Also at Astrobiology News Briefs with graphics and links. Leonid Daily News, Leonid Multi-instrument Aircraft Campaign. Leonid Meteor Shower: Sowing the Seeds of Life?, by Robert Roy Britt, Space.com, 15 November 2000. New England Can Catch Leonids Glimpses Nov 17, SpaceDaily.com, 8 November 2000. Comets... is a related CA webpage.

Evolution by Gene Duplication? A biologist and a computer scientist at the University of Oregon have analysed sequences from six eukaryotic species to study gene duplication. They conclude that genes are duplicated far more often than previously thought, and that most duplicated genes are subsequently eliminated. They believe that the remaining ones may help create new species by reproductively isolating different lineages.

Since 1970, when Susumo Ohno published Evolution by Gene Duplication, this mechanism has become part of Darwinian orthodoxy. If gene duplication can lead to speciation, as the study concludes, it would indeed promote genetic variation. But genetic variation is not the same as macroevolutionary progress, which requires lengthy new genetic programs. If gene duplication can produce them, one would expect a study like this one to detect evolutionary pathways connecting genes with quite different functions. Yet there is no mention of any evidence for such pathways. The only evolutionary pathways confirmed are between members of pairs with closely related functions. We think the ability of Darwinian evolution to produce sustained macroevolutionary progress in a genetically closed system still rests on weak support.

Studies such as this one are only possible now that so much genetic sequencing has been completed. We applaud the work and hope that similar studies will continue using an ever larger data base of sequenced genomes.

Ancient Bacteria in Salt Crystals on Mars? Following the recent revival of 250-million-year-old bacteria from a mineshaft in New Mexico, a Missouri biologist with NASA funding is actively pursuing the possibility that ancient microbial life could be preserved in the same manner on Mars. Research Could Pave Way For Discovery Of Life On Mars, SpaceDaily.com, 6 November 2000. Life on Mars! is a related CA webpage. What'sNEW, 19 October tells about the revived ancient bacteria.

Canolfan Astrobioleg Caerdydd — The Cardiff Center for Astrobiology — is being established. The interdisciplinary research program will deal broadly with 1) evidence for the existence of biomolecules and cells in the upper atmosphere as well as in comets and interstellar dust, 2) evidence for the existence of life molecules and processes in material recovered from space, and 3) the effect of space conditions on living systems. These studies will feed into investigations on the emergence and development of life in the context of evolving atmospheres on planetary bodies. This work will also provide information essential for the emergent discipline of space medicine.

The founders and principal investigators are Professor N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cardiff University and Professor Anthony K. Campbell, University of Wales College of Medicine. The unique combination of astronomy and molecular cell biology they provide will establish a facility capable of contributing to space missions probing for life on solar system bodies. In the immediate future, the Center intends to set up and equip a high containment laboratory at the University of Wales College of Medicine to investigate samples that are shortly to be received from balloon experiments being conducted by a team at ISRO, India.

Today, the new Center and the Cardiff Astronomical Society jointly sponsored an open lecture by Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley, Director of The Columbus Optical SETI Observatory.

Archaebacteria may produce methane underground, far from any oil. The archaebacteria have been found 1.5 to 4.5 km below the surface at temperatures of 30-80° C in solutions saturated with calcium, sodium and magnesium chlorides and sulfates. Archaebacteria Produce the Natural Gas, by Nadezhda V. Verkhovtseva, Moscow State University, Soil Science Faculty, 27 October 2000. Can The Theory Be Tested is a related CA webpage (search for "methane").